The men’s hockey team went to overtime twice this past weekend at home, losing to Trinity and beating Wesleyan to finish the weekend at 13-7-2 (8-7-1 NESCAC).
Matt Sullivan ’17 scored with 16 seconds remaining in overtime on Saturday night to secure a victory over the visiting Wesleyan Cardinals. The Polar Bears won 4-3.
Bowdoin scored early on a power-play goal by Colin Downey ’14, who was assisted by Ryan Collier ’15 and Mitch Barrington ’17. Three minutes later, Wesleyan’s Keith Buehler scored to tie it up. The Cardinals went up 2-1 at the end of the first period when a shot by Robby Harbison was deflected into the Bowdoin net.
Wesleyan scored early at 4:18 into the second period to go up 3-1. Bowdoin answered three minutes later with a one-timer by Connor Quinn ’15, who was assisted by Downey. The Polar Bears trailed 3-2.
Bowdoin scored 10 minutes into the third period with a goal by Erik Bertin ’14, assisted by Kyle Lockwood ’14.
Although Downey could not convert on a close miss in overtime, Sullivan came up huge with a goal in the final seconds to secure the win.
“Scoring the overtime goal against Wesleyan was such an exhilarating feeling,” said Sullivan. “The real credit goes to the performance of our entire team throughout the game. [Our comeback] shows the character of the guys in our locker room and what we are capable of moving forward.”
Head Coach Terry Meagher lauded the production from the secondary scorers.
“Outside of primary guys, others have to produce [and] contribute offensively,” said Meagher. “That happened on Saturday and was a key to the Wesleyan victory.”
The night before, Bowdoin fell 5-4 to Trinity. The Polar Bears were hungry for revenge after a 5-1 loss to the Bantams earlier in the season.
“The [first] Trinity game was an important moment in our season,” said Meagher. “From then on, we’ve been on an ascending plane. Now, we’re playing better than we’ve played all year.”
Although the Bantams took a 2-0 lead, the Polar Bears responded with a power play goal by Barrington 12:39 into the first. Thirty-seven seconds later, Matt Rubinoff ’16 converted to tie the game. He was assisted by senior captains Jay Livermore and Harry Matheson.
Bowdoin went up 3-2 at the end of the first on a goal by Downey, who had two goals on the game, his second coming 4:47 into the second period.
Trinity answered at 14:52 in the second to cut the lead in half. The Bantams evened the score early in the third period.
Trinity secured its comeback, scoring the winning goal only 24 seconds into overtime.
Although the Trinity loss was frustrating, Meagher was optimistic about his team’s performance.
“You’ve got to address the positives and continue to believe in [the] person to the right and left of you,” said Meagher. “When you play an up-tempo game you have to make sure every player is on the same page.”
Livermore was satisfied with the overall team performance on the weekend as well.
“We are starting to build chemistry and find our rhythm,” said Livermore. “Despite some injuries, we had guys stepping up and making plays, which shows we have developed depth in the lineup. We get better everyday and I think we are going to be a very hard team to beat down the final stretch.”
Bowdoin has one more weekend of regular season NESCAC games. The Polar Bears play at Connecticut College tonight at 7 p.m. and then at Tufts tomorrow.